Switch.



ALDERIC LEFEBVRE, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

Application filed June 20, 1914. Serial No. 846,324.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALDERIo Lnrnnvnn, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and resident of the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Switches, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in switches, and also to improvements on the switch shown and described in my former Patent No. 1,080,226, granted December 2nd, 1918.

The object of the invention is to provide a simpler and more reliable structure for operating the switch throwing member.

A further object is to provide an improved locking and trigger mechanism, which will maintain the trigger normally depressed.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description.

The device consists essentially of a rack bar carrying a trigger engageable by the car and meshing with a ratchet mounted gear carried on a crank shaft connected to the switch throwing member. The trigger is normally in depressed position behind a stop, and rests on a pivoted table movable by means of a wheel controlled lever to lift the trigger above the stop.

in the drawings which illustrate the inventionz-Figure 1 is a plan View of the device showing the cover plates removed. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 2-2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the crank shaft and gear showing the connecting mechanism.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 5 designates the main line rail, 6 the branch line rail, and 7 a pivoted switch tongue controlled by a switch throwing member 8 of any suitable type mounted in a casing 9. WVithin the casing is a small vertically disposed crank shaft 10 having the crank pin thereof located between two disks 11 and 12. The lower disk 11 is flattened at diametrically opposite points for engagement with a leaf spring 13 or other suitable device operating to releasably hold the crank shaft against revolution. The upper disk 12 is provided with a pair of diametrically opposite teeth 14 which form the same into a ratchet wheel. A gear wheel 15 is revolubly mounted on the crank shaft above the upper disk 12 and carries on its lower surface a pivoted spring pressed pawl 16 adapted to engage the teeth 14.

An extension 17 of the casing 9 is provided lying alongside the rail, and contains a slidably mounted bar 18 having on one end a rack portion 19 meshing with the wheel 15 and at the opposite end a stop 20 engaging against a shoulder of the casing to limit the retractive action of the spring 21. A recess or pocket 22 is formed in the casing beneath the bar 18 and has formed on the floor thereof a stop 23 against which a trigger 2% pivoted to the bar 18 normally rests, the stop being positioned between the trigger and gear, so as to prevent movement of the bar toward the gear. The face of this stop adjacent the gear 15 is sloped, as shown at 25, forming a ramp which will lower or raise the trigger as the same is reciprocated thereover. A lever or table 26 is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends under the bar 18 and trigger 2 1, and is so positioned that the trigger normally rests on the surface of the table. The end of this table remote from the switch carries a laterally projecting pin 27 which extends under the rail 5, and at the opposite end a second laterally projecting pin 28 which extends away from the rail and is engaged by a suitable spring 29, which operates to maintain the forward or switch end of the table normally depressed. A trip lever 30 is mounted in the groove of the rail, or if the rail is of the ordinary type, then the lever is mounted in the path of a wheel flange and is so normally inclined that it will be depressed by a wheel passing thereover. In elevated position, this lever rests on the pin 27, so that when the lever is depressed, the table 26 will be oscillated, raising its forward end level with the upper surface of the stop and also raising the trigger 24 above the level of the rail, and in the path of any suitable engaging device carried by a car. When thus elevated, the trigger is not only engageable by the car, but is elevated clear of the stop 23, so that it may be moved by the car toward the switch. As this movement continues, the trigger travels down the ramp 25 until it automatically disengages from the car. The forward movement of the trigger with the car causes forward move ment of the bar to which it is pivoted, so that the rack 19 rotates the gear wheel 15, the movement being limited by the engagement period of the trigger, so that thegear wheel is rotated exactly one half revolution. As the wheel turns, it drives the crank shaft through the medium of the pawl, which in turn reciprocates the switch throwing mem her 8 through the medium of the link 31, and thus throws the switch. During the forward movement of the bar 18, the spring 21 is elongated, and as soon as the trigger releases from the car, draws the bar back to original, position, the trigger riding up over the ramp 25 and dropping on to-the now depressed table 26 behind the stop. The rack rotates the gear wheel 15 in" the reverse direction, but the pawl 16 merely slips over the ratchet teeth of the disk 12, so that the crank shaft which is held by the leaf spring 13 does not rotate in the reverse'direction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claimv is 1. In a switch, the combination with a switch throwing member of a crank shaft having a cam disk and a ratchet disk thereon, a link connecting said crank shaft with the switch throwing member, a spring engaging the cam disk toreleasably hold the shaft against revolution, a gear wheel revolubly mounted on said shaft, a pawl carried by the gear engaging the ratchet disk during; revolution of the gear wheel in one direction, and a car operated rack meshing with said gear wheel.

2. In a switch, the combination with a switch throwing member of rack and pinion mechanism, operative connection between the rack and pinion mechanism and the switch throwing member, a pivoted trigger carried'by the rack member, a stop in the path of-saidtrigger, and car operated means arranged to lift the trigger out of'the path of said step and into engagement with the car.

In a switch, theccombination with a switchthrowing member of rack and pinion mechanism, operative connection between said mechanism and the switch throwing member, 1a pivoted.- trigger carried by the rack ,member,.a stop in the path of-said trigger, a pivoted table supporting the trigger, a car wheel operable lever arranged to oscillate said table and lift the trigger clear of the stop and intoengagement with the car, and means for automatically disengaging the trigger from the car comprising a ramp in the path of said trigger.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presenceof two witnesses. ALDERIC LEFEBVRE. NVitnesses I C. W. ALLEN, G M. MORELAND.

Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

